Food Novels to Devour
Gourmet Rhapsody
by Muriel Barbery
A great food critic who can make or destroy the reputation of a chef with a stroke of his pen, Pierre Arthens faces his imminent death by trying to recall the one perfect flavor he sampled in his youth, a flavor that he believes forms the ultimate truth of his life.
The School of Essential Ingredients
by Erica Bauermeister
Gathering at Lillian’s Restaurant for a weekly cooking class, a young mother struggles with the growing demands of her family, an Italian kitchen designer works to adapt to life in America, and a widower mourns the loss of his wife to breast cancer.
Cinnamon and Gunpowder
by Eli Brown
Kidnapped by a ruthless early 19th-century woman pirate and ordered to serve exquisite Sunday dinners or forfeit his life, renowned chef Owen Wedgwood transforms meager shipboard supplies into sumptuous meals while the pirate queen pushes her exhausted crew to track down a deadly privateer.
Marrying the Ketchups
by Jennifer Close
When Bud, the founder of JP Sullivan’s, drops dead, everyone in the Sullivan family finds themselves doubting all they hold dear, in this unputdownable comedy of manners about three generations of a Chicago restaurant family and the deep-fried love that feeds them.
Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors
by Sonali Dev
A neurosurgeon from a politically ambitious immigrant family clashes with a talented dessert chef who would prove he is more than his pedigree.
Best Served Hot
by Amanda Elliot
A social media restaurant reviewer with a large following butts heads with a smarmy, social-media-averse society boy who snagged her dream job when video of her confronting him for his outdated opinions goes viral.
Like Water for Chocolate
by Laura Esquivel
A combination fairy tale, melodrama, romance, Mexican cookbook, and home remedy handbook. Despite the fact that she has fallen in love with a young man, Tita, the youngest of three daughters born to a tyrannical rancher, must obey tradition and remain single and at home to care for her mother.
Love & Saffron
by Kim Fay
When 27-year-old Joan Bergstrom sends a fan letter—as well as a gift of saffron—to 59-year-old food writer Imogen Fortier, so begins an enduring friendship that sustains them through the Cuban Missile Crisis, the assassination of President Kennedy and the unexpected in their own lives.
The Little French Bistro
by Nina George
Overcome by regrets after decades in a loveless and unhappy marriage, Marianne attempts suicide and is abandoned by her husband before finding herself in picturesque Brittany, where she finds loving new friends who encourage her to develop her talents for her own pleasure.
The Blue Bistro
by Elin Hilderbrand
Adrienne moves to Nantucket in the hopes of starting over and gets a crash course in restaurant management at a popular locale that is preparing to close, an endeavor that is compromised by her budding relationship with her boss.
Love & Other Disasters
by Anita Kelly
While competing on a popular cooking show, Dahlia Woodson stirs up trouble when she gets involved with a nonbinary contestant, and as their relationship heats up both in and out of the kitchen, she wonders if they have the right ingredients for a happily ever after.
The Baker’s Secret
by Stephen P. Kiernan
A baker’s apprentice in Normandy endures shame and anger as her kind mentor is targeted and arrested for his Jewish heritage, a violation that compels the young woman to engage in discreet resistance activities, baking contraband loaves of bread for the hungry using surplus ingredients taken from occupying forces.
Arsenic and Adobo
by Mia P. Manansala
Returning home to help save her Tita Rosie’s failing restaurant, Lila Macapagal is shocked when her ex-boyfriend, a notoriously nasty food critic, dies suddenly, moments after they had a confrontation, leaving her the only suspect.
The Golden Spoon
by Jessa Maxwell
During her annual televised baking competition on her Vermont estate, celebrated baker Betsy Martin, hailed as “America’s Grandmother,” finds murder in the mix when a body is discovered, and everyone is a suspect.
The City Baker’s Guide to Country Living
by Louise Miller
A pastry chef for an exclusive Boston dinner club loses her job in the wake of a disastrous fire and escapes to her best friend’s Vermont hometown, where her mouthwatering desserts give way to a new job, a blue-ribbon competition, a potential relationship and new understandings about belonging.
Delicious!
by Ruth Reichl
Working as a public relations hotline consultant for a once-prestigious culinary magazine, Billie Breslin unexpectedly enters a world of New York restaurateurs and artisanal purveyors while reading World War II letters exchanged between a plucky 12-year-old and James Beard.
The Kitchen Front
by Jennifer Ryan
An indebted young widow, a freedom-seeking kitchen maid, the wife of a wealthy but unkind man and a trained chef navigating sexism compete for a once-in-a-lifetime spot hosting a BBC cooking program during World War II.
Kitchens of the Great Midwest
by J. Ryan Stradal
Raised with a sophisticated palate by her single father, Eva learns the culturally rich stories behind a series of Midwestern dishes while becoming the star chef at a legendary restaurant.
